Album review of the new GNOD: Chapel Perilous

Last year in March Manchester’s rock collective Gnod released their powerful noiserock album ‘JUST SAY NO TO THE PSYCHO RIGHT​-​WING CAPITALIST FASCIST INDUSTRIAL DEATH MACHINE’. Now, more than a year later, Gnod is back – and how! The band returns with ‘Chapel Perilous’, which will be released on May 4 on Rocket Recordings.

The opening track is called ‘Donovan’s Daughters’. This sonic beast of a track lasts 15 minutes. Hitting off with repetitive drums and bass lines, this track slowly evolves into a monster filled with anger and noise. The characteristically nasty vocals soon join in. The track builds up and grows stronger and darker every minute, ending in an apotheosis of brutal noise and screaming vocals. Exactly what we hoped for. The second track, ‘Europa’, starts off with that same ominous atmosphere you can feel throughout album. A track that slows down the pace and leaves you aching for more. ‘Voice From Nowhere’ pushes you even deeper. When the tribal drums die out, the next track, ‘A Body’, hits the listener with low, slow, rumbling noises from some unearthly abyss. Any attempt to escape is futile.

And then comes the inevitable wake-up call. The following track, ‘Uncle Frank Says Turn It Down’, brings the heavy riffs and tormented yelling we by now freakishly love and cherish. Gnod bids you farewell with ‘Chapel Perilous’, a vicious but welcomed blow to the nuts. This album is a kick in the face, a sonic attack, an album that leaves you exhausted.